The Netherlands: a no-nonsense approach to civil procedure reform

In the netherlands, significant changes to the procedural regulations and other policy reforms have thoroughly reshaped the legal system over the past decades. Much more attention than before is directed to gathering data and to conducting empirical research in order to assess some of these changes. The role of the judge regarding case management seems to be of greater significance today than in the early 1990s. Judges have the authority to control the progress of lawsuits. It is now common for judges to schedule oral hearings at an early point in time at which the judge will order the parties themselves to appear in court in order to discuss the case. In the dutch legal system, some preliminary steps have also been taken to promote mediation.keywordsdistrict courtcivil procedurecivil litigationpersonal appearancedutch courtthese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.